Two captains at opposite ends of their careers and with different ambitions go
head to head on Saturday in the last match of the county season at Lord’s.

The CB40 final may lack the lustre of showpiece Lord’s finals of the past but for Marcus Trescothick and Surrey’s Rory Hamilton-Brown, victory will be an important achievement.

Trescothick has poured his life into his beloved Somerset since illness ended his international career, and he has managed four runners-up finishes in all competitions in two years as captain.

Winning some silverware for his county is his goal now he has recalibrated his career aims, and the importance of this match can be gauged by his desperate fight to be fit.

Trescothick spent time in an oxygen chamber while undergoing intensive treatment on an ankle ligament injury which he admitted on Friday is at least four weeks away from being fully repaired. Unless his ankle deteriorates on Saturday morning he will swallow painkillers and look to give Somerset a blistering start.

“At some point it [winning a trophy] is going to happen because we keep putting ourselves in the right position,” he said. “We have got a lot of experience coming into these situations now. It is never easy when you come away and you haven’t won but we can learn from what has happened in previous years and go one step further.”

Hamilton-Brown recently turned 24 and is nine years younger than Trescothick. Rightly ambitious for a man of his age, he has eyes on international cricket, and winning the CB40 trophy in the same week as gaining promotion to Division One of the championship will help push his case to be captain of the England Lions this winter.

“Promotion gives us confidence and it is nice to be on a roll and nice to be coming off the right end of some results,” he said. “We also have had a fantastic run in this competition as well and the way we have played in the last month has put us in a good place.

“Our strength as a side this year is that we have been aggressive, have looked to play positive and win the Powerplays. The key for me is we come out and play with the freedom we have all year and not let the occasion get to us.”

Both sides will field players straight off an overnight drive up the M4 from England duty with Jade Dernbach joining Surrey and Somerset selecting Craig Kieswetter and Jos Buttler.

Somerset’s strength lies in their batting. James Hildreth and Peter Trego warmed up with hundreds in the championship against Lancashire while even on one leg Trescothick remains a formidable opponent.

Surrey have been the form team in the CB40 this season, losing just once in 13 matches thanks to a strong bowling attack. Dernbach’s mixture of slower balls and the spin options provided by Gareth Batty and Chris Schofield make for a balanced attack. They will be joined by either Pakistan swing bowler Yasir Arafat or Indian left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha.

Mark Ramprakash has been injured for most of the summer with a back problem and is not available, while Kevin Pietersen is resting on England orders.

Saturday's match is the start of a whirlwind period for Somerset who fly to India on Sunday morning to take part in the Twenty20 Champions League. Their first match, against the Auckland Aces, is on Tuesday and if they fail to progress to the next round, they could be back in the West Country by Thursday.

Lord’s will be a little over half full with 15,000 tickets sold and plenty available to buy on the gate in the morning. It is an improvement on last year when the decision to make the game a floodlit match backfired with Somerset fans unable to find late trains home.

“You need that FA Cup final in front of the big house,” said Trescothick. “Players dream of playing in these kinds of finals at Lord’s and last year with it not being a full house took that bit of edge away from it. We have played before here in front of full houses and it makes a special occasion for all the teams and supporters.”